의과대학생 스트레스 척도의 개발과 타당화

Abstract

Purpose: Medical students experience various stresses that arise in a special environment. However, there is no specific stressscale for medical students with regard to their environment in Korea. Therefore, in this study, we developed and confirmed thevalidity of a stress scale for medical students in Korea. Methods: A draft version of the scale was developed on the basis of open-ended questionnaires from 97 medical students. Thevalidity of the content of this scale was evaluated by three medical educationists. The scale was administered to 435 third andfourth grade medical students as the main survey. For our data, we performed an exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factoranalysis. We used Cronbach α index to determine internal consistency. Results: Six factors with 40 items were extracted through the exploratory factor analysis: academic stress (9 items); clerkship stress(11 items); interpersonal stress (7 items); career stress (8 items); health-related stress (3 items); and financial stress (2 items). Thesefactors showed a statistically significant correlation. The confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated a favorable RMSEA (0.053) andreasonable fit (CFI=0.847, TLI=0.833). Cronbach α values of the six factors ranged from 0.63 to 0.85. Conclusion: The medical student stress scale had a good model fit. It is a valid and reliable instrument in identifying stress inmedical students and can be used in future studies. Also, the scale is expected to provide individual stress profiles for studentsto help them manage stress more effectively.